


if we don't leave this town, we might never make it out

by acheybones



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Better Than Canon, Canon Divergence, Child Abuse, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Eddie Kaspbrak Has Issues, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Good Parents Maggie & Wentworth Tozier, High School Graduation, Homophobic Language, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, No Smut, Period-Typical Homophobia, Protective Richie Tozier, Running away from your problems, Secret Relationship, Slurs, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting, Touch-Starved, no beta we die like men, rated for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:14:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26204023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acheybones/pseuds/acheybones
Summary: He liked Maine in the summer alright. Picking strawberries and watching the fireworks over Voigt Field in July. Liked swimming with his friends when the sun was out, and sneaking into Richie's room when the sun was down after telling his mother he was staying with Stanley instead. Sonia Kaspbrak had always called Richie "trouble", or maybe it was just the way she saw how Eddie looked at him in a way she thought that Eddie should look at young women.+or, a story about running away from your problems, and fordbidden love.(title from "sleep on the floor" by the lumineers)
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 5
Kudos: 43





	if we don't leave this town, we might never make it out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> this is my first reddie fic!! thank you to @rosalierichie whose masterpiece "the descent of this water" inspired me to finally write this.

Eddie's footsteps were light against the rocks, navigating carefully so he wouldn't risk rolling an ankle and destroying his shoulder. His left arm hung free from his jacket, his right clenching his jacket close around the body where it threatened to fall from the empty sleeve.

_Just a little bit further,_ Eddie said to himself. _Hold it in, just a little bit further now._

The quarry was a land mine, threatening a broken ankle and a nasty infection if you stepped on the wrong rock or a particularly slippery slope. Eddie guessed Derry wasn't much different, that way. Having to tread lightly to avoid side-eyes and dirty glares, always watching your own feet and trying to pretend you couldn't hear the mumbles. It worked well, until the mumbles made it home.

Focusing on his footsteps kept Eddie's mind off the throbbing pain in his shoulder, every throb consistent with his own heart beat. It wasn't broken, but it certainly wasn't right.

It was May, but Maine had a way of not giving a fuck. So, it was a cool sixty-four degrees. When the sun finally set, it'd likely get down to the mid-fifties. Eddie wasn't sure why people chose to stay in Maine, but he was pretty sure it wasn't for the weather or the black flies.

He liked Maine in the summer alright. Picking strawberries and watching the fireworks over Voigt Field in July. Liked swimming with his friends when the sun was out, and sneaking into Richie's room when the sun was down after telling his mother he was staying with Stanley. Sonia Kaspbrak had always called Richie "trouble", or maybe it was just the way she saw how Eddie looked at him in a way she thought that Eddie should look at young women.

Richie. Soft and relaxed in all the ways that Eddie was rough and worried. It was like medicine he never needed, the way things seemed to glow with Richie. Eddie had climbed into the Tozier boy's window on more than one occasion, sometimes soaked from a classic Derry rainstorm after him and his mother had gotten into it, yet again. Richie had only quietly wrapped an arm around Eddie's shaking form and rubbed small circles with his thumbs into too-sharp shoulder blades. 

Richie always called it "The Buzzing", a frankly adorable way of putting the absolute torment that Eddie felt inside his brain. When he would shake in Richie's bed, unable to tell the taller boy about how Sonia smashed a picture frame against the wall and screamed that no one would ever love Eddie like his mother did, Richie would give a soft tap to Eddie's temple and look at him over the top of thick glasses.

"Buzzing up there, Eds?” He asked softly.

And for some reason, it had made perfect sense. Eddie had always found himself just barely managing not to vibrate out of his own skin. Everything always felt like too much. Being tucked into the soft concave of Richie’s chest was the only thing that seemed to settle the buzzing. Richie would rub the palms of his hands up and down Eddie’s arms until he was ready to talk, and Richie would have to visibly restrain himself from getting angry in fear that Eddie would think the anger was towards him.

When Eddie finally found Richie, he was sat on the hill looking out over the swimming spot that their friends frequented in the summer.

“Thought you got lost, Spaghetti. I was getting worried.” Richie said without looking over at Eddie.Eddie must have been doing a poor job of hiding the pain in his arm, because when Richie did turn to look at him, a soft smile on his face, that smile evaporated as quickly as it appeared and his jaw fell open. Richie quickly jumped to his feet, taking careful steps towards Eddie with his palms raised.

“Eddie, sweetheart?” It was the soft, anchoring voice that Richie used on the particularly bad nights. “I need to know if you’re okay.”

Eddie’s breathing quickened, and he violently shook his head. Richie didn’t step closer, giving Eddie space but standing close enough that he would catch Eddie if his knees gave out.

“Can you tell me what happened?” It was a tone of voice that Richie never took with anyone else, and if their friends had heard the way he talked to Eddie, he might have to sock them in the face. Not because he was embarrassed, but because he believed Eddie was a precious thing, and that this was something that was just theirs.

Eddie let go of his jacket, and the empty sleeve fell behind his back. The short-sleeve gray shirt that Richie recognized as his own did nothing to hide the bruising that was already curling up Eddie’s elbow to his collar bone. Eddie’s pale skin was always quick to color, be it bruising or bashfulness, but the sickly purple and olive tones were fresh.

Richie lowered his hands, digging his fingernails into the heels of his palm and trying to keep his voice as steady as possible.

“What did she do to you?”

Eddie remained quiet for a few minutes until his breathing settled.

“She said Greta Bowie’s mom stopped her in the supermarket. Greta told her we got caught skipping fourth period to make-out on the football field.”

Richie raised an eyebrow. “We didn’t get caught making out on the football field?”

“Do you think she gives a shit?” Eddie spit out. It was all venom, but none of it was directed at Richie. “She can’t stomach her only son being a fucking faggot. And you know something? I don’t know if I can either.” Eddie let himself fall against Richie, too exhausted to bother with standing up right anymore.

“What are you saying?” Richie was careful to avoid the bad arm, gently wrapping his arm around Eddie’s waist to keep him up right.

“It ain’t… It ain’t right, Rich.”

“You’re damn skippy, it ain’t right!” Richie propped Eddie up against the trunk of a tree, helping him settle down high enough off the ground on an exposed root, before he took to pacing in front of him. “What kind of mother does this? She’s treated you horribly for years, and I haven’t done anything to stop it.”

Richie kicked the side of the tree opposite Eddie’s, too filled with adrenaline and anger at the ache that took over his ankle when his chucks connected with the bark.

_“And then I hear from the Ms. Bowie that you and that Tozier boy were together? I have to hear from a complete stranger that my own son is a shame to our family. I bet that’s why you insisted on leaving after graduation. You’re going to leave your own mother here to die, aren’t you?” A large arm swept across the bureau, followed by a cacophony of shattering ceramic hitting the floor_

_“You’re leaving me to be with the Tozier boy. I should have never let you apply to college in Portland.”_

_“Richie has nothing to do with this.” Eddie said calmly, earning him a swift slap across his lower jaw. At 18, he was taller than his mother, but it never changed the fact that she always managed to make him feel like a cowering thirteen year-old._

_“Don’t you lie to me! Don’t you lie to your mother! You never planned on coming back to Derry, did you?”_

_He didn’t, but Sonia didn’t need to know that. She didn’t need to know that Maggie and Wentworth had quietly matched him and Richie’s savings, securing them an apartment in Portland after he had showed up at their front door with a busted lip._

_“I can’t talk to you like this.” Eddie said softly, turning to make a run for the door, but Sonia grabbed his left bicep and shoved him into the wall._

_“All I’ve done for you and this is how you thank me?” Sonia shoved Eddie’s shoulder harder, and he could feel every bit of the brick against his skin. How exactly does one thank their mother for eighteen years of trauma and fear?_

“There’s nothin’ you could have done, Richie.” Eddie let his left arm drop to his side, too weak to hold it close to his chest anymore, letting his eyes fall shut.

He could vaguely feel Richie crouching in front of him.

“What did you mean wasn’t right, Eddie?” Richie let his fingers ghost against the bone of his boyfriend’s ankle where his jeans had ridden up.

“Me.” Eddie’s eyes opened and he looked into Richie’s. “Us. You’re supposed to marry a nice girl and pop out a few kids. White house with the picket fence and all that bullshit.”

Richie gave Eddie a sad smile, “The only nice girl I have eyes for is you, Eds.”

“Life with me isn’t ever going to be easy, you know. You need someone with less baggage than me.” _Not someone so terrifyingly broken, he isn’t sure if he’ll ever be able to put himself back together._

“Oh honey, if you’ve got baggage, I’m the TSA.” Richie wrapped an arm back around the smaller boy’s waist whenever Eddie reached out his good arm to him, helping him stand. “I don’t want a life that’s easy, I want a life with you in it.”

_What if I’m not worth it? What if you realize that I’m nothing but damaged goods? What if-_

Richie must’ve been able to read Eddie’s thoughts, because he brushed his lips against Eddie’s forehead and pressed a soft kiss against his hairline.

“You’re buzzing again, baby. It’s all going to be okay.” He pulled Eddie in closer to his side. “Let’s get you home and cleaned up?”

It wasn’t specified, but Eddie knew he meant the Tozier home. Wentworth and Maggie hadn’t taken the kindest to catching Richie and Eddie sharing a kiss on their front porch, but they had softened substantially to the idea. Eddie was eighty-five percent sure that Richie telling his parents about Sonia’s A+ parenting hadn’t had anything to do with it. And if Eddie sleeping in their guest room until graduation next week is what kept him safe, then maybe that was okay.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on [twitter](http://twitter.com/acheyb0nes) and [tumblr](http://acheybones.tumblr.com) if you're into that


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